Jason Tapp

Jason Tapp (born April 8, 1978 in Kelowna, British Columbia) is a retired Canadian ice hockey goaltender.

Jason grew up around hockey as his father, Brian Tapp, as well as his older brother, Shane Tapp, played. Jason's father scored the first goal ever at Wings Stadium in 1974 for the Kalamazoo Wings.

College Hockey

Jason played hockey all four years for Boston University. In his Freshman year he played backup goalie for NHL goalie Michel Larocque, and his sophomore year he shared ice time with NHL goalie Rick DiPietro. In 52 games with Boston University, Tapp went 18–22–4 and had a 3.37 goals against game average.

Professional career

ACHL and SEHL

Jason Tapp turned pro in 2002 in his first season with the Knoxville Ice Bears, ACHL. In his first pro year, Jason played 11 pro games, and had 5 wins, 3 losses. He continued his career with the Knoxville Ice Bears for the 2003–2004 season in the SEHL, earning icetime in 16 games, with 7 wins and 8 losses. Mid-season, Tapp left the Ice Bears for the Columbus Cottonmouths. In 33 games with the Cottonmouths, Tapp went 16–8–4.

UHL career

The 2004–2005 season brought Tapp to his first season in the UHL with The Missouri River Otters. Tapp played 47 games with the River Otters and went 23–21–3. Tapp stayed in the UHL for the 2005–2006 season, but moved to The Quad City Mallards for his first of two seasons with the team. In his first season with the Mallards, Tapp went 34–20–7 with a total save percentage of .916. In his second season with the Mallards, Tapp went 31–19–8, with a save percentage of .904.

CHL career

For the 2007–2008 season, Jason Tapp moved to the CHL, playing for The Corpus Christi Rayz. In 59 games with the Rayz, Tapp went 22–28–7.

IHL career

In the 2008–2009 season, Tapp moved to the IHL to play for the Kalamazoo Wings. Jason's father, Brian Tapp, scored the first ever goal for the Kalamazoo Wings at Wings Stadium in the 1974–75 season. Jason shares ice time with 2005–2006 UHL playoff winner Joel Martin. As of 3/12/2009, Jason has played 37 games and gone 21–15–1 for the Kalamazoo Wings.

Playoffs

Tapp has gone to the playoffs four times in his professional career. The first time with the Ice Bears in 2002–03, and again two seasons later with the River Otters. Tapp also took the Mallards to the playoffs during both of his seasons with them.

Fights

Jason has also logged 3 fights in his pro-hockey career including two for the Mallards, and one for the Rayz. While playing for the Mallards in 2006–07, Jason fought Rockford Ichogs defenseman, Luke Fritshaw, as well as Flint Generals goalie Bryan Worosz. In his one fight for the Rayz in the 2007–08 season, Jason fought Arizona Sundogs goalie, Bill Zaniboni.

Jason Tapp is known for his calling on goalies from opposing teams with a "chicken dance" before he fights them. He pulls this often, but rarely gets a response.